5th ed. Spelljammer – The Wand of Orcus, session 13

After a four month hiatus, we returned to our D&D 5th edition Spelljammer campaign! One of our players left the group at the beginning of the hiatus, so henceforth, Flint Rockbottom is Mr. Not-Appearing-in-these-Adventures-as-a-PC. The campaign focus has shifted from Favors of the Arcane to the Wand of Orcus, and posts will be titled accordingly, though the number will remain constant as it’s the same story line.

Six months have passed since you defeated the dragon and acquired Sea of Stars. Though Ragnar technically owns the ship, he is content to act as Gunnery and Armory Master. Flint Rockbottom has taken up brewing with a new passion and owns a brewery on the Rock of Bral from which he produces ale and beer that is now being exported to other worlds, through your patron, Herzog.

After some time spent refitting the ship, and a few quick jobs to shake out the kinks, your spelljammer is ready to fly into the black once more!

Still, the specter of the Wand of Orcus looms over you. No new information came your way, and that there have been no obviously related attacks or disturbances is disquieting.

As the officers supervised final preparations for launch, Ra-Jareez approached Captain Straxius. He presented the wizard with a treasure map he’d acquired sometime in the past week. “Ra-Jareez knows there is little trust here. This one hopes that by sharing this treasure, you will know this old Nkosi means well. Perhaps a little something for everyone, yes?”

After a brief discussion, they decided since this purported lost treasure was on Oerth, it would be worth investigating, despite its location deep in the Sea of Dust in the Imperial Wastes. Fortunately, they were in a flying ship, so the lack of water in which to land was not a problem. Once they arrived in Greyspace and trekked to Oerth, Flint took the helm and hovered the ship above the site.

From the air, it was clear the giant scorpion statue protruding from the sand was part of an ancient complex, a forgotten temple deep in a land long bereft of life. Straxius, Sumner, Veya, Zinniana, and Kagark descended the ship’s rope ladder to the site.

Immediately, the sun glinting off a stone in the tail of the scorpion caught their eye. Zinniana and Veya climbed the monolithic scorpion’s tail, and saw the stinger was a giant gemstone. With care and cleverness, they removed it and brought it back down to Sumner and Straxius for examination. Before anyone could stop him, Sumner licked the gemstone.

Much to the minotaur’s chagrin, the gemstone was cursed. Lacking any means to remove the curse, they were forced to proceed despite this setback. They descended into the underground chamber, presumably a tomb of some sort.

At the bottom of the stairs, the corridor split off to the left and right, in addition to continuing straight. Ahead, a pit stretched across the corridor from wall to wall. As soon as they entered the intersection, cultist leapt from concealed crevasses and attacked! One shatter spell later, courtesy Zinniana, and more cultists emerged, ready to kill the intruders.

As the battle raged, a cultist’s head bounced into the pit, attracting carrion beetles the size of full-grown hogs to climb up and attack, seeking food. Though the battle was bloody, the crew eventually emerged victorious and paused to evaluate their wounds before moving deeper into the tomb…

Four months of playing other games caused this session to go a little slower than normal; we all had to learn how to play D&D again. Still, progress was made and we’re all looking forward to continuing the campaign.